Tesla Motors’ Elon Musk has said the need for lower-cost batteries for vehicles and power storage means there will need to be hundreds of ‘gigafactories’ like the one the carmaker is planning to build.
According to Bloomberg News, Musk said at the World Energy Innovation Forum, an annual conference hosted by Tesla board member Ira Ehrenpreis, Tesla anticipates the battery factory will reduce the cost of lithium-ion cells by more than its initial guidance of 30%.
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“I think we can probably do better than 30%,” Musk told Bloomberg later. As carmakers increase demand for batteries “there’s going to need to be lots of gigafactories. Just to supply auto demand you need 200 gigafactories,” he said.
Tesla is getting close to deciding where it will build the first such proposed facility, which Musk has said will cost as much as US$5bn and involve partner companies such as Panasonic. Last week he said groundbreaking at one of at least two potential sites could happen as early as June, Bloomberg noted.
Along with supplying cheaper batteries for Tesla’s electric cars, the plant is to supply stationary power storage devices to SolarCity, another Musk-affiliated company. Those power storage devices will also be needed by other solar power providers and to store wind power, Musk told Bloomberg, without identifying specific companies.
